More Than a Friend
by Rory Maria
Summary: AU in which Natsu is in love with his best friend, Lucy, and his older brother, Zeref, thinks he gives the best relationship advice now that he's finally gotten a girlfriend himself.
1. Chapter 1

Natsu walked into his kitchen after getting home from soccer practice to a familiar sight. Lucy, with her blonde hair up in a ponytail that reached past her hips, stood by the stove, a smile on her face. To her left, seated at the kitchen table, was Igneel, laughing at whatever they'd been talking about.

Smiling, Natsu walked further into the kitchen, plopping his bag down on the seat across from his father. He'd never admit it out loud, but this was where he felt the most relaxed: at home, with Lucy and his dad. Of course, he'd love it if his brother was with them too, but since he was away studying, Zeref wasn't around much.

"Hey, Lucy. Sup dad," Natsu greeted, crossing his arms as he smiled at the two.

"Hey Natsu!" Lucy replied happily, turning slightly to smile at him over her shoulder, still stirring the pot on the stove.

"Jeez, old man. I leave you alone with my best friend just while I'm at practice and you've got her slaving over our stove?" Natsu playfully accused. Lucy laughed while Igneel put his hands up in defense.

"Totally not my fault! I was ready to make dinner, I even offered to help once she said she wanted to. She wouldn't let me! She's the bad guy here, not me," Igneel said, making a show of trying to subtly point at Lucy for emphasis. Natsu turned an amused grin to Lucy as she spoke in response.

"Hey, you work too hard! Seriously, you run your own company and then you have to come home and take care of two boys. The least I can do is give you a break and make dinner for you," Lucy said, turning the pot on low and putting a lid over it. She turned around and took a seat next to a grateful Igneel at the table.

"Thank you, Lucy. I know I ask this all the time, but can I adopt you? Really. Lord knows neither of my boys would ever offer to make dinner," he said, pointedly staring Natsu down, earning another laugh from Lucy.

"Hey, I offer to put money up for pizza all the time," Natsu said, shrugging off the intended insult. Lucy rolled her eyes, looking to Igneel who only inhaled deeply as a response.

"I don't know where I went wrong with him," Igneel stated in all seriousness. Natsu frowned as Lucy giggled, and picked up his bag to chuck it across the table at his father.

"Jerk," he muttered, watching Igneel laugh and push the bag aside.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Lucy asked after Igneel's laughter died out. She glanced between both males around her, which made Natsu fill with a feeling close to happiness. He loved this about Lucy. She was so family oriented, maybe because she didn't have much of a family herself. Regardless of the reason, Natsu loved her for it. The best times of his life were spent with her and Igneel. And, on occasion, Zeref too. Lucy just fit in with them. She was part of his family.

"Well whatever it is, you two will be doing it on your own. I'm hanging out with Grandeeney tonight," Igneel stated, leaning back in his chair. His expression didn't change at all while he spoke, but that didn't stop Lucy and Natsu from attacking.

"Ooohh, Grandeeeeeney," Lucy purred, leaning forward towards Igneel. Her elbow was bent, leaning on the tabletop with her hand cupping her face as she grinned at the older man.

Igneel blinked in response. "Uh, yeah. What about her?"

"You liiiiike her," Natsu teased, making his voice high pitched as he spoke. Lucy laughed at the facial expression Natsu got from his father in response.

"It's really not like that. We're just two adults, hanging out, being friends." Igneel shrugged when he finished speaking, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Uh huh, two adult single parents. Come on, Igneel. You guys are always together. Tell us what's really going on between you," Lucy reasoned, crossing her arms challengingly in return.

Natsu smirked at Lucy before looking back towards his father, waiting to see how he'd react. Natsu had known Grandeeney for a long time now, and her daughter, Wendy, was like a little sister to him at this point. She often times hung out with him and his friends. It was like she and Grandeeney were already family, and Natsu decided he liked the idea of making it official.

"Oh yeah? How about you tell me what's really going on between you and Natsu, first?" Igneel shot back, his eyes sparkling a little when Lucy immediately started to blush.

"W-what?!" she squeaked, arms falling to her sides in shock. Natsu couldn't say he was looking any different. His mouth was hanging open and he was sure his eyes were going to fall right out of his skull. What was going on between him and Lucy? Nothing, that's what was going on, much to Natsu's deep disappointment. Lucy would always only see him as a friend.

"And that was me, changing the subject long enough to make my graceful exit," Igneel laughed, standing up from his seat. He started to walk out of the kitchen as he spoke. "I'm going to go shower so I don't smell like my office. I'll be back down before dinner. Remember, it's fall break, so Zeref will be home tonight. I think he's bringing Mavis."

"The twelve year old lookin' blonde?" Natsu asked, sliding into the seat next to Lucy.

"Yep, so be nice. I'm leaving dinner to you, so don't burn the house down you two. And by 'you two' I mean you, Natsu. Seriously. Do not set anything on fire." Igneel's tone along with his stare made it clear that he was being serious, which made it seem all the more funny. Natsu couldn't blame Lucy for bursting out with laughter.

"I get it, just go shower, ya jerk! You smell," Natsu yelled, laughing around the words as he spoke them. Igneel gave him a fond smile before finally leaving the room.

* * *

"Should we set some plates for Zeref and Mavis?" Lucy asked as she started to put plates down on the small, round table in the Dragneel's kitchen.

"Nah, they won't be home til late. Zeref called like a half hour ago to tell us not to wait up for him. There seems to be a lot of traffic," Igneel said, shrugging without worry.

"Sweet!" Natsu yelled, throwing his fists up above his head in some unknown victory. "I get to eat their shares then!"

Natsu's smile only widened when Lucy rolled her eyes at him. She sat down at the table and started to serve herself before she spoke. "You eat like you've never known what it's like to have food. Seriously, where does it go? So unfair, if I break my diet just _once_ my thighs start to look like baby whales," Lucy grumbled, frowning down at her plate.

"You know where it goes, Lucy. Straight to these guys," Natsu laughed, exaggeratedly flexing his biceps. He laughed harder when Lucy and Igneel shared an annoyed glance.

"You're ridiculous," Lucy muttered, although her cheeks looked to be a shade darker. But maybe Natsu was just imagining that.

A noise came from the porch before the front door opened, causing the trio to curiously glance at one another. Before they had much time to react, Zeref and Mavis joined them in the kitchen, crumpled up McDonald's bags in their hands.

"Hey dad, Natsu," Zeref nodded to them, before turning to smile at Lucy. "Hey, Lucy, I figured you'd be here." The older Dragneel brother only laughed in response to Lucy's instant blush.

"Hey, kid. I didn't expect you home for another couple of hours," Igneel said, a smile on his face as he quickly stood from his chair to give Zeref a hug.

"I know, but traffic cleared up sooner than I thought," the boy stated, shrugged once he was released from his father's embrace. "You remember Mavis don't you?" Zeref asked, eyeing his father's smile towards the girl.

"Of course I do! Welcome home, Mavis! You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need to."

As Mavis said her thank yous, Zeref turned towards Lucy with a grin on his face. "I don't think you've met her, Lucy. This is my girlfriend, Mavis," he said proudly, motioning towards the short blonde.

Before Lucy had time to respond, Natsu abruptly stood from his seat. "What?! You made it official?!" he yelled, earning a short "Yup" from his older brother. "I can't believe this!"

"I know, me either," Zeref said softly, looking towards Mavis with a dream like gaze. Her expression wasn't much different.

"No, stupid! I mean I can't believe _you_ got a girlfriend before _me_!" Natsu shouted, causing everyone in the room to pause for a moment. Obviously, they weren't expecting something like that to come from Natsu.

"I'm older than you, doofus," Zeref countered, obviously taking offence to the statement. "This is _normal_."

"The hell it is! Nothing about you is normal. You're into black magic and stuff, who would want to be with someone like that?! Plus, I'm a lot nicer than you. I should have gotten a girlfriend before you. This sucks!"

"I have to agree, Natsu is more friendly than you," Mavis piped in with an innocent shrug. Zeref turned wide, accusing eyes her way.

"Mavis! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Eeep!" the girl squeaked, obviously realizing her mistake. "Sorry! I forgot."

The Dragneel brothers groaned in union, and Igneel finally stepped in, effectively ending the conversation. "So, Mavis, you and Zeref must be hungry after that long ride. We haven't eaten dinner yet, would you care to join us?"

"I would love to, Mr. Dragneel, but Zeref and I already ate on our way home. We really didn't expect to be back this early. Your meal looks really delicious though, I wish I hadn't eaten," Mavis said wistfully, eyeing the food on the table with glossy eyes.

"I take no credit for it," Igneel said, putting his hand up. "Lucy played chef tonight."

"You made all this delicious looking food?" Mavis asked, looking at Lucy with wide eyes.

The younger blonde squirmed under her gaze, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. "Oh, it was nothing. I spend a lot of time with the cooks at my home so it's no trouble for me to just whip something up. Plus, Igneel works so hard, I wanted to give him a break."

"And that," Zeref sighed to Mavis, pausing in his speech to throw out their fast food bags, "Is why my father wants to sell Natsu and I to a circus and adopt Lucy."

"Can't say that I blame him," Mavis giggled, folding her hands behind her back while shooting Lucy a grin.

Ducking her head in embarrassment, Lucy looked at the ground and said, "Er, can we change the topic?"

Natsu couldn't help but smirk at that. He kicked Lucy's leg under the table and gave her a taunting stare, as if to say, "You brought this on yourself". He only got a scowl in response.

"Sure. Why don't you show Mavis to the guest room, Zeref? I'm sure you're both wanting some rest after that long ride," Igneel suggested. The two teenagers nodded gratefully at the idea before disappearing out of the room.

Igneel sighed once they were gone and retook his seat at the table. He and Lucy watched silently as Natsu piled his plate with food. When Lucy's upper lip began to curl in disgust, Igneel couldn't help himself, he burst right into laughter.

"What?" Natsu asked, finally looking up from his plate to see Lucy frowning down at her food.

"Nothing, just eat your food," his father answered, not before sharing a knowing look with the young blonde, however.

* * *

"Alright, I'm outta here. Enjoy your movie night," Igneel said, walking briskly towards the front door, keys already in hand.

From where he sat next to Mavis on the loveseat, Zeref frowned. "Where are you going?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly disappointed.

"He's got a date with Grandeeneeeyyy," Natsu cooed, earning a laugh from Lucy. She shifted in her seat next to him so that their shoulders were pressed together and Natsu stopped breathing for a moment.

"It's not a date," Igneel explained, rolling his eyes at the smirk Zeref was giving him. "Metalicana will be there too."

"Oi, old man! I didn't know you were into that," Natsu said, and the room erupted into soft laughter. Igneel wasn't laughing, though. Instead, he was giving Natsu a hard stare.

"And I didn't know virgins knew how to make jokes like that," he countered, making everyone laugh harder. When it was clear that Natsu wasn't going to try to make another comeback, Igneel went on to say, "It's no big deal. We're all just old friends, who like to get together and complain about our kids."

Natsu and Zeref instantly began to fake laugh at Igneel's last comment, which made the two blondes giggle in response. Igneel mock laughed back at them before quickly sobering up.

"Okay, I seriously gotta go or Grandeeney will talk my ear off for being late again." And with that, Igneel was out the door. A few moments later, the sound of his truck's engine revved and disappeared into the distance.

Natsu felt the sofa shift next to him as Lucy stood up, leaving the side of him cold where he'd been connected to her. "I should go, too, actually," she said, her tone slightly sad.

"Wait what? Why?" Natsu asked, grabbing her hand to pull her back to him. "The movie hasn't even started yet!"

"I know," Lucy sighed, pulling her hand out of his grip. There was a tiredness in her eyes that Natsu hadn't noticed before, and suddenly he felt bad for asking her to stay. "My dad hasn't been eating lately, and I want to be home to make sure he takes breaks from his work. I don't want him to get sick."

She didn't have to finish her statement for Natsu to understand what she meant. _Don't want him to get sick like your mom,_ he thought, frowning. Natsu hadn't known Lucy when he'd lost her mom, but he knew her now, and he would do anything to make sure she never had to go through something like that again.

"Okay," he shrugged, standing up with her. "Just let me get my hoodie and I'll walk you home."

"Huh? You don't have to do that, the walk isn't long," Lucy said, speaking fast as she followed Natsu to his porch. She tugged on his arm, trying to get him to stop searching for his hoodie and return to his seat on the sofa. But it was no use.

"I know, which is why I don't mind walking it. Where the hell is this hoodie?!" Natsu mumbled to himself over Lucy's defeated sigh. Finally he saw the faded red material that Lucy had gotten him at the beach boardwalk two summers ago. It was his favorite hoodie, even though he never really needed to wear it.

"Why do you even want a hoodie? You never get cold," Lucy complained, looking away. It was one of those instances where Natsu couldn't tell if Lucy was blushing or not, so he decided to ignore it.

"Yeah," Natsu agreed before ungracefully shoving the hoodie over Lucy's head, successfully messing up her hair. "But you do. I don't want you to get cold while we walk."

"Thanks," Lucy whispered. And now she was definitely blushing.


	2. Chapter 2

Early fall soon turned into a bitter winter. Zeref and Mavis stayed home for two weeks before going back to their university. Natsu wouldn't admit it, but he was excited that Zeref would be back soon. He missed his nagging older brother around the house. But thankfully, he had Lucy around most days to keep him company. Today was one of those days.

Lucy dropped her backpack onto Natsu's living room floor before sitting down next to it, leaning her back against the coffee table. The smile on her face made Natsu's breathing uneven. "Ahh!" she sighed deeply, closing her eyes. "Winter break! Finally! No class for almost a month!"

"Yeah," Natsu grinned, plopping down on his plushy sofa. He too let out a content sigh, perking up when Lucy gave him a sly smile.

"Levy and Gajeel are totally going to be together when we get back," she stated as fact, stretching her arms as she spoke so her voice was a little strained. Natsu swallowed, trying to ignore where his mind was tempted to go.

"Huh? What'dya mean?" he asked, blinking at Lucy. Levy and Gajeel? Together? That made very little sense to Natsu, considering Levy was smart and Gajeel was just annoying. He saw Lucy roll her eyes and frowned at her.

"They've totally been secretly hooking up for weeks now. They're definitely making it official over break." There was a moment of silence while Natsu shrugged in response. Lucy's expression was slightly off, and Natsu couldn't quite put his finger on it. Finally after giving her a raised brow look, she went on to say, "All of our friends will be in relationships once they get together…"

"So?" Natsu asked, trying to keep his voice light. Talking about relationships with the only person you've ever wanted to be in a relationship with...well, Natsu felt a little shaken up.

Lucy seemed to be a little uncomfortable as well, but Natsu couldn't imagine it would be for the same reason as he. Looking away while blushing softly, Lucy shrugged stiffly and said, "I don't know. We'll be the only two single ones. Won't that be kinda weird?"

"I don't know. I think you're putting too much thought into this, Luce. Is being in a relationship that big a deal to you?" Natsu pretended his voice didn't shake at the end like he thought it did. Lucy didn't say anything so maybe it really didn't. She just shrugged in response, just as Zeref and Mavis made their way down the steps.

"What the hell?! When the hell did you get here," Natsu asked, a look of surprise flashing across his face. Lucy looked shocked as well, but smiled quickly, standing to give both Mavis and Zeref hugs. That always got to Natsu. Zeref wasn't much of a hugger, but Lucy had become so comfortable with him, that he didn't mind a short embrace from her. Lucy, of course, was completely oblivious to her special treatment, which only made Natsu's heart warm more.

"Early this morning, after you left for school. We technically started break last week, but Mavis and I spent a week with her family before coming here," Zeref explained, not bothering to actually greet his brother.

"Totally jealous that you guys get a longer break than we do," Lucy said, sighing as she sat back down on the floor in front of Natsu. The small pout on her face made him melt slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by Zeref, since he shot Natsu a knowing glance before answering Lucy.

"Yeah, well, when you get the amount of work we do, you'll need longer breaks," the older Dragneel brother stated, and both he and Mavis sighed, eyes glazing over as they no doubt thought back to their last semester.

"Are you guys hungry? Zeref and I were just going to get some snacks, we can bring some out for you, too," Mavis offered after a moment of silence. Her smile was as sweet as ever, and in the moment Natsu could see why his brother was so attracted to her. She was the happiness he was always searching for.

"Sure, that sounds great. Thanks!" Natsu said, his signature grin overtaking his face.

"Come on, Zeref," Mavis said softly, tugging on the boy's sleeve. She looked directly into his eyes as she spoke, and Natsu saw them slowly zone out everything around them.

"Okay, let's go," Zeref smiled softly, not breaking eye contact with Mavis as he moved to lead her into the kitchen. Natsu had noticed it was almost always like that with those two. They lived in their own little world, and only came out to interact with others for short periods of time, like they couldn't survive long without each other. Was that what being in love was like? Or were they just weird?

Startled by her sigh, Natsu quickly glanced down to look at Lucy. Her cheeks were a light, rosy pink, and the longing smile she was giving the older couple made Natsu's throat dry. Apparently, relationships _did_ mean that much to her. That scared Natsu, though. Because he knew that Lucy didn't want to date _him_ and that if she dated someone else, he'd have less time with her. Both were really bad things.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lucy questioned, her voice breaking Natsu out of his thoughts. She was giving him one of her adorable, confused expressions, and he swallowed before answering.

"Why are you looking at _me_ like that?" was the best response Natsu could come up with. It seemed to work though, since Lucy's cheeks darkened before she muttered "Shut up" under her breath and looked away. Natsu thought that was weird but didn't push her any further. An angry Lucy was a scary Lucy.

* * *

Natsu was sitting on the edge of his bed, fiddling with the remote to his TV, when he felt slim fingers tangle into his hair. That startled him enough to drop the remote onto his carpeted bedroom floor. He could feel that Lucy was kneeling on the bed behind him, and when she noticed his reaction to her exploring hands, she giggled. The entire situation was too much for Natsu, mostly because he'd had dreams similar to this, but they always ended with him waking up with an uncomfortable hard on. And he doubted this scene would play out like his dreams.

"Oi, Luce! Cut it out! I'm trying to put the movie on," Natsu grumbled, trying to push Lucy away. He ended up making the situation ten times worse for himself. Instead of letting him push her away, Lucy instinctively backed up on the bed, pulling Natsu back with her. Much to Lucy's amusement, they ended up landing together on the bed in a lying position, Lucy half on top of Natsu, half on the mattress. Her fingers were still in his hair, and she grinned, climbing more on top of him to inspect his locks.

"Lucy! What the hell are you doing?" Natsu grumbled, half heartedly trying to struggle free from her. He secretly enjoyed the weight of having Lucy on top of him. He was starting to hope that maybe this _would_ end up like one of his dreams...

With a laugh, Lucy tugged at Natsu's hair before letting him go. With their chests still pressed together, she smiled at him, her face dangerously close to his. "I was just checking your roots, making sure you're telling the truth about your hair color."

"Oi!" Natsu rumbled, getting a laugh from Lucy. She rolled off of him as he sat up, ruffling up his hair in defense. "Of course I'm telling ya the truth, weirdo! I've known you for years, if I was dyin' it you would have figured that out by now!"

"You never know," Lucy teased through her laughter. She was still lying down on Natsu's bed, completely comfortable there, since it was a place she often was. For much more innocent reasons than Natsu would prefer, though he'd never admit that out loud.

The hoodie he'd given her a few weeks ago was still in her possession, and she was wearing it right now, her smaller frame swimming in the red material. The phrase "I'm all fired up!" was written across the front, and Natsu smiled looking at it now.

"I'm never getting that hoodie back, am I?" he questioned, though he already knew the answer was no. Lucy sat up now and smiled proudly, shaking her head with emphasis.

"No way. It's super comfy and so warm! You never get cold anyway."

"So? I still want it back. That's my favorite hoodie!" Natsu complained, more for the sake of bothering Lucy than anything else.

Cocking her head to the side, Lucy gave Natsu a deadpan look. "Natsu. It's your only hoodie."

"Not true! I have another one...somewhere...I think. But that doesn't matter! You got me that hoodie, so it's my favorite, and I want it back eventually," he finished in a huff, crossing his arms. He scowled at the soft look Lucy was giving him until she looked down and started to play with the hoodie's drawstrings.

"Remember when I bought you this hoodie?" she asked, still not looking up.

Natsu's eyebrows pulled together in confusion. What kind of question was that? Of course he remembered. It was two summers ago. Lucy invited him to go with her and her father on their annual beach trip. He remembered her being really happy, because it was the only time her father ever gave her any amount of attention. But of course, like the loser Natsu is, he got sick the first night down there.

Lucy will tell you that it was the only time she'd seen Natsu cold, but he'd tell you she was wrong. He totally wasn't cold. He just _had_ a cold. Either way, she'd left the next day, and came back really excited. She went on and on about how she couldn't believe she found a preprinted hoodie with Natsu's catch phrase on it. She just "had to buy it", apparently. So along with medicine and soup, she got him a hoodie. Which came in handy, because secretly, Natsu had been freezing.

"Duh I remember, weirdo. I'm not _that_ forgetful." Lucy's eyes shot back up to his and gave him a blank look. "Okay, maybe I am. But not about things that are important to me!"

"Me giving you a hoodie is important to you?" Lucy asked doubtfully. Natsu only rolled his eyes in response.

"Everything we do together is important to me. Including an awful beach trip," he explained, and Lucy flashed him a soft smile before a frown pulled on her beautiful features. She looked down at the hoodie as she spoke.

"This was a stupid thing to get you though. You never need it. It was such a waste," Lucy mumbled, shrugging as she looked back up to Natsu.

"It's not a waste to me," he said, shrugging back at her and shifting so that he was now leaning back against the headboard. "I get to keep it as a souvenir of our first beach trip together, and whenever you're cold I get to give it to you. That's pretty awesome if you ask me."

Lucy's eyes widened before she quickly looked away, turning her head to the side so that Natsu had no way of seeing her facial expression. _Great,_ he thought, frowning now, _I shouldn't have said anything emotional like that. Probably freaked her out._

Biting back a groan, Natsu swiftly turned over and lied back down on his bed, back facing Lucy. His arms were crossed over his chest in annoyance at himself, but Lucy must have taken it the wrong way since she immediately slapped his side, earning a small yelp from him.

"Well, don't make this weird!" she complained, a light blush on her cheeks. Natsu was sure his face was just as flushed.

Jolting up from his position, Natsu turned back towards Lucy in utter shock. "Me make things weird? You're the one making things weird, weirdo!"

"Hey," Zeref's voice called from the open doorway, earning both of their attention. He had a mock stern expression on his face, and for once, Mavis wasn't by his side. "I like Lucy so don't be mean and scare her off."

"Oi! If I was going to scare her off don't you think it would have happened by now?! If she hasn't left me yet she never will."

"Hey!" Lucy protested Natsu's statement as Zeref laughed and walked further down the hall, no doubt to the guest room where Mavis was staying. "Are you trying to say that you think I'll always be here? That's called taking me for granted Natsu! I don't appreciate that!"

Although her tone was mostly playful, Natsu had a feeling that she was being serious deep down. His face dropped when he realized this, and he blinked at her a few times before speaking. "Huh? I could never take you for granted, Lucy. I just meant that you told me we were best friends, and best friends don't leave each other."

Lucy visibly relaxed at Natsu's words. _What a weirdo,_ he thought, fighting the urge to snort at her. Before he could say anything to make fun of her, though, she gave him the softest smile he'd ever seen on her, and leaned forward slowly. Natsu's muscles tightened at her closeness, but all she did was gently place her hand on top of his.

"You're right, Natsu. You're my best friend in the entire world, I could never leave you. And I would never want to."

Lucy's eyes were filled with happiness but for some reason Natsu saw a sparkle of sorrow in them. He couldn't fathom why though. Swallowing thickly, he nodded his head, unsure of how to properly respond to Lucy's promise.

"So hurry up and start the movie, slowpoke!" Lucy suddenly commanded, laughing at Natsu's instant cross expression. He took a breath to remind her that it was her fault he hadn't been able to press play earlier, but she pushed him aside before he could get a word out. Still laughing, Lucy climbed over him and reached for the remote herself. The two struggled over it before one of their fingers accidentally pressed the play button.

* * *

Natsu's back was pressed against the wall at the bottom of his staircase. Dinner had finished almost a half hour ago, and he'd just gotten back from walking Lucy home. That was when Zeref appeared out of literally nowhere, and cornered him here.

"When the hell are you going to ask Lucy out?" he asked, making Natsu's eyes bulge out of his skull. Zeref crossed his arms when Natsu remained silent, and raised one of his brows impatiently.

"W-what do you mean? -"

"Don't you dare give me that 'best friend' speech," Zeref interrupted with a roll of his eyes. "I know you like her. And she obviously likes you back. So what's the problem?"

"She - she doesn't like me back. Okay? She's always talking about how she wants a guy from the books, like a freaking sappy wimp. A blue eyed prince charming. That's definitely not me." A pain started in Natsu's chest and traveled all the way up and down his body. He hated talking about this, because he didn't want to remind himself that Lucy would never want him the way he wanted her.

Zeref could see the emotions coming to life in his brother's eyes, and his face softened in a way it only did for Natsu. He reached out and gently placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Hey, don't say that. Trust me, I'm definitely not what I thought Mavis wanted, not even what Mavis thought she wanted either. But we turned out to be perfect for each other. I know you and Lucy will be the same way."

"Yeah whatever. I'm going to sleep," Natsu grumbled, pushing Zeref's hand off of him before turning to walk up the steps. As an afterthought, he added, "Don't bother me. I mean it. If I hear you sneaking out of Mavis' room at five in the morning again I'm gonna set your room on fire."

Although he couldn't see it, Natsu was sure Zeref rolled his eyes. And the thought made him smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Winter was in full swing now. The air was always bitter cold, and the entire city was decorated for Christmas already. Since they were on break, Natsu and Lucy spent even more time together than usual. She'd sleep over most nights, which Natsu loved, because usually he didn't sleep well, side effect of his medicine. But with Lucy by his side, he slept like a rock. Of course she'd complain about his snoring or whatever, but Natsu knew she secretly loved sleeping next to him, since he always offered to sleep on the sofa but she'd never let him.

"Ah, finally up, I see. Did you sleep well, Lucy?"

From his lying position on the floor, Natsu strained his neck to see his father leaning against the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, shooting Lucy an amused smirk. She didn't seem bothered at all though as she sat like a pretzel on the sofa wearing fluffy socks and Natsu's red hoodie.

"As well as I ever can with the snore machine by my side," Lucy said, laughing while sticking her leg out to poke Natsu with her toe.

All Natsu did in response was roll his eyes. "I always tell her I'll sleep on the sofa, but she always says no. She's so needy," Natsu teased back, poking Lucy's leg.

She frowned immediately and turned to Igneel with a blank face. "You never offers to sleep on the sofa."

" _What?!_ " Natsu said, bolting right up on the floor. His eyebrows had pulled together in disbelieving shock, and he looked at her in complete appall. "You're a liar! I _always_ offer but you say no and cling to my arm talkin' 'bout how I'm so warm or some crap!"

Lucy's eyes widened and she looked away, her entire face turning read. "I never say that! Stop making up stories!"

Natsu's mouth hung open in shock. He couldn't believe that Lucy was denying it all of a sudden. Did she really not remember saying any of those things? It's true that she _is_ half asleep when she says them, but still…it wasn't creepy that Natsu remembered it, right? I mean, who could _not_ remember someone like Lucy clinging to them in the middle of the night begging them to stay with her? And now Natsu was frowning, more at himself than Lucy. "I didn't –"

"Alright, alright, that's enough bickering, you two. Jeez, you're worse than an old married couple," Igneel laughed, looking at the sour faces of the two teens.

"Oh, so worse than you and Grandeeney?" Natsu deadpanned, happy to hear Lucy laugh at his joke.

Igneel, on the other hand, only smiled tightly, narrowing his eyes at his youngest son. "Ha ha, trying to be funny in front of Lucy, I see."

Now it was Natsu's turn to narrow his eyes. Slowly, he pulled himself up to sit on the sofa next to Lucy, and crossed his arms. "Don't gotta try, I'm hilarious," he said, raising his eyebrows at his father, as if daring him to say something back.

Igneel ignored Natsu's look though, and instead turned to Lucy with raised eyebrows and a blank face. She returned the look by raising her hands and shaking her head. "I'm not gonna say anything, this is between you guys, leave me out of it."

"Fair enough," Igneel shrugged at the same time Natsu turned to Lucy with a frown and said, "Lame! What kinda best friend are you?"

"What did I tell you about leaving poor Lucy alone?" Zeref said, cutting off the heated response Lucy was just about to give Natsu. With Mavis by his side, Zeref walked down the last two steps and walked over to the love seat across from the sofa Natsu and Lucy were currently occupying. "Do I have to knock some sense into you, Natsu?"

At that, Natsu jumped off the sofa so quickly that he startled Lucy, causing her to give a girly squeak. "What did you just say? You think you can take me?" he asked, frowning. His fists were already in the air, ready for a fight.

In a much calmer manner, Zeref stood from his seat, actually chuckling a little at Natsu's words. "Think? Oh, little brother, I _know_ I can kick your ass," Zeref said, smirking. His eyes brightened when Natsu's frown deepened.

"That's it! Fight me, Zeref!" Natsu hollered, feeling his stomach erupted into flames in anticipation for a good fight. Truthfully, he knew his brother was an amazing fighter. But he also knew that recently he'd started to beat Zeref in fights, and it was something he couldn't let his older brother live down.

"Hold it, you two. No fighting," Igneel said sternly, walking to stand between his sons. Natsu pouted, and glared at his father when shot him a warning glance. "I'm going out soon, and I'd like to come home to, well, a house. Not a pile of rubble, okay? Is that too much to ask? Just sit down," Igneel sighed when Natsu tried to argue with him.

Sighing, Natsu plopped back down onto the sofa, and almost choked on air when Lucy held his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She'd never done that before, had she? No, Natsu was sure he'd remember if Lucy ever held his hand so casually. He was too scared to look at her, so instead he mustered up enough courage to stroke the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Where are you going, Mr. Dragneel?" Mavis asked sweetly, probably just trying to dissipate the awkward tension that lingered in the air.

It could have been Natsu's imagination, but he swore his dad turned a little awkward at the question. Rubbing the back of his beck, Igneel said with a sheepish expression, "Well, actually, I'm going over Grandeeney's. She's got a clogged pipe she wants some help with so…"

"OHHHH GRANDEEEENEEEEY!" all the teenagers cooed loudly, laughing at how flushed Igneel's face became.

He pointed a finger at all of them, laughing as he backed away. "See! This! This is why I never tell you guys anything anymore, you always try to embarrass me. I'll be in my study until Grandeeney comes to pick me up, don't bother me. You two," Igneel's expression turned serious as he shifted his eyes between his two sons, pointing his finger between the two as well, "No fighting. You," he continued, pointing at Lucy, "Stay perfect. And you," his gaze finally fell on Mavis, and he paused before finishing, "Thank you for dating my son."

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief as Igneel left the room, thankful his father hadn't pointed out the fact that he and Lucy were still holding hands. He slumped back in his seat, resisting the urge to cross his arms since that would mean he'd have to let go of Lucy. "Jeez, he's such a weirdo. What are we supposed to do now then?"

"You know there are other things to do to pass time other than fighting, right?" Lucy asked him, a smirk on her face as she eyed him with amusement. When she squeezed his hand again, Natsu was sure he blushed.

"Well, yeah, I guess," he grumbled, his mind going momentarily blank.

"We could play a game," Mavis offered, shrugging and swinging her feet above the floor in a childlike manner.

"Games are boring," Natsu mumbled under his breath, earning a frown and an elbow jab from Lucy.

"Do you mean like a board game, Mavis?" Lucy asked sweetly, covering up for Natsu's bad attitude.

"Wait, I've got an idea," Zeref said, sitting up forward in his seat. That peeked Natsu's interest enough to actually pay attention. "How about we play man hunt? Me and Mavis versus Natsu and Lucy."

After taking a moment to weigh his options, Natsu shrugged and stood, tightening his grip on Lucy's hand so that she was dragged up with him. "Sounds fun. Who's hunting who?"

After Zeref and Mavis decided that they would be the ones to hunt, Natsu and Lucy ran off to find hiding places. Shaking off his disappointment over having to let go of Lucy's hand, Natsu ran to his father's study, ready to hide behind his large array of book shelves.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Igneel asked, glancing up from some paperwork. His reading glasses were on and he was hunched over his desk, papers scattered in front of him.

Natsu paused in his step, turning to face his father. "We're playing man hunt. I wanna hide in your books."

As soon as the words left Natsu's mouth, Igneel was up from his seat, making his way over to his son. "Oh no you're not. The last time you were near my books you ended up setting half of them on fire. Do you know how much money it costed me to replace them? Some of them were even only editions!"

Natsu groaned and rolled his eyes when his father placed two hands to the back of his shoulders, guiding him towards the doorway. He tried to dig his heels into the floor to resist, but his socks just ended up sliding over the hardwood, making it easier for Igneel to kick him out.

"C'mon dad! Do you want me to lose? I thought you loved me!" Natsu playfully whined, crossing his arms.

Igneel didn't budge. "Love you?" he asked, his tone confused as he kept pushing his son. "Where'd you get an idea like that? I was only in this for that pretty government check."

Immediately Natsu started to laugh, and from behind him Igneel giggled as well, showing that he was indeed joking. Since Natsu and Zeref were foster kids, Igneel used to get a monthly check from the government for taking care of them. The three had right away created an inside joke about Igneel only wanting them for the money, since so many of their previous homes had been like that. But that theory was put to rest when Igneel adopted them a year after they came to live with him.

"You jerk," Natsu said through his laughter, finally being pushed out the door.

Igneel nodded, patting Natsu on the head. "Yep. Now go hide somewhere else before your brother finds you." And with that, Igneel shut the door again, leaving Natsu to grumble quietly to himself.

He knew Igneel was right though. It would only be a matter of time until Zeref found him now. He needed to get to safe grounds and quickly. Wrapping his ever present white scarf around his head like a ninja mask, Natsu snuck up the side staircase. He was planning on hiding in Zeref's room, since no one would think to be stupid enough to do that – besides Natsu, of course – but when he reached the top of the steps, he caught a flash of wavy blonde hair from the doorway of Zeref's room. _Mavis!_

"That's weird," Natsu heard Zeref's voice say, "I thought for sure Natsu would be that dumbass to hide out in my room. Oh well, let's keep looking."

 _Shit!_ Natsu saw Zeref enter the hall way right before he dashed into the first room he could, which just so happened to be Igneel's. That made Natsu chuckle to himself. Maybe he should set some things aflame, just to get back at the old man. He quickly snapped out of his mischevious thoughts when he heard heavy footsteps come towards the door, though. Picking the first hiding spot he could, Natsu yanked open the closet doors, and hopped inside.

There wasn't much room, since Igneel was a chronic hoarder and had boxes of junk stacked long the floor. Stepping over the boxes, Natsu tried to hide himself against the back of the wall, but something warn and soft blocked his way.

"Ow! Natsu! What are you doing here?!" Lucy questioned in a harsh whisper, trying to push Natsu away from herself. "This is _my_ hiding spot."

"What? Look, I can't exactly explain right now. Just shut up, Zeref is coming in any second," Natsu whispered back, shuffling even closer to her. Their bodies were pressed together at this point due to the limited amount of space, but Natsu thought of natural disasters and sad puppies in order to distract himself from Lucy's body heat. That was working, too, until Lucy decided to roll her hips against his.

Both their eyes widened as they looked at each other, and Natsu stiffened, looking down at their hips. "Lucy, what the hell was that?!" he demanded in a panicked whisper. He looked up to see her cheeks were bright red, and her eyes refused to land on his.

"I – I don't know! You're too close! Back up!" Lucy quietly cried, using her hands to try to push Natsu away.

He resisted her struggles, though, simply because there was nowhere for him to go now without them both getting caught. The sound of the bedroom door opening made them both go still, and Natsu gave Lucy a warning glance.

"Quiet," he mouthed at her, putting a finger to his lips for emphasis.

"Natsu, I'm being serious, you need to move –"

Frowning, Natsu moved forward, pressing his entire body against Lucy's. She let out a small gasp, and he immediately cupped a hand over her mouth, muffling any other noises she would make. When the closet door opened, Natsu shut his eyes tight, pressing himself even more firmly against Lucy in hopes that they would somehow blend into the wall.

Their bodies were so close that it actually hurt a little, but Natsu ignored it, hoping that Zeref wouldn't be able to see them. It didn't help that Lucy was – consciously or not – pressing her hips back against his, the soft pressure making it hard for him to keep still.

Slowly, the closet door shut. "They're not in here either, Mavi," Zeref's voice sounded, making both Natsu and Lucy sigh in relief. Once Zeref's footsteps left the room, Natsu quickly turned around, not wanting Lucy to feel what was going on in his lower region.

"We should wait a little, then we can leave and find separate hide outs," Natsu said softly, tugging at the waist band of his jeans. He was silently cursing the painfully restricting make of skinny jeans when two slender arms wrapped around his waist.

"Are you…are you mad at me?" Lucy asked hesitantly, her face nuzzling into his back as if she were trying to hide.

"Huh? No? Why would I be mad at ya, Lucy?" Natsu whispered, turning his head to the side in an attempt to glance down at her.

"I don't know," she said quickly, but there was an edge to her voice that made Natsu think otherwise. "I just, I feel like I made things awkward. You're not mad at me? Or upset or anything?"

"No. Stop being a weirdo," Natsu scoffed, turning his head back around to face front. He was about to tell Lucy that they could leave now when she spoke again.

"So why'd you turn around so quickly, then?"

Natsu paused. Somehow, he felt like the words, "I got a boner from being cramped up in a closet with you" would be really awkward to say. So instead of speaking, he stiffly grabbed one of her delicate hands and guided it down to the bulge in his jeans. Natsu cringed when Lucy immediately took in a sharp breath, and dropped her hand, feeling like _he'd_ been the one to make things awkward.

His breath caught his throat when Lucy's hand didn't move from his crotch. Instead, she pressed down on it ever so slightly, and started to move her hand in small, unsure movements. Natsu stared down at it in wonder. _Is this really happening right now?_

Feeling like there wasn't much to lose, Natsu slowly placed his hand back on top of Lucy's, and started to guide her movements. He pressed down harder on her hand, breathing out softly at the small amount of relief that gave him, and began to move her hand along the outline of his hard on.

Just when Natsu didn't think this moment could get any more surreal, Lucy dipped her free hand under his tshirt and slowly started to drag it up his stomach. His muscles tightened out of reflex and he heard her sigh softly, her hand moving over his toned abs now. Natsu couldn't imagine anything sexier than Lucy Heartfilia feeling him up like his body was made especially for that purpose.

Natsu was growing a little restless. Although Lucy palming him through his jeans was one of the better things he'd felt in his lifetime, it still wasn't enough. He wanted _more_ of her. As if she could read his mind – or maybe his body language – Lucy pressed herself flush against his back. Natsu felt her breasts move higher along his back as she leaned up, using her chin to pull his scarf down so that her lips could press against the back of his neck.

A pathetic noise escaped Natsu's lips at the feeling. At this point, he was about ninety nine percent sure he was dreaming; he'd probably passed out back in Ingeel's study or something. He didn't think there was any way any of this was possible, but then Lucy whispered his name against his skin, and the goosebumps that arose on his flesh made him sure that this was real.

Disappointment washed over him when Lucy removed both her hands, assuming that this little fantasy was over. But Lucy surprised him again by taking hold of the waistband of his jeans, and tugging at the material until the button came undone.

 _Holy. Shit._

The sound of the door bursting open made them both freeze. Igneel's soft voice seemed like banshi screams in the tense silence. "Jeez, where's my tool belt?" he kept mumbling under his breath, and the sound of moving objects clanked through the room.

Natsu stiffened and from behind him he felt Lucy do the same. No doubt they were staring at the same thing: Igneel's tool belt, hanging from a hook to their right.

 _Holy. Shit._

It was one thing if Zeref found them and their game was over. It was a whole different thing if Igneel found them, in a closet, with Natsu's pants on their way to being off. Cringing, Natsu tensed against Lucy's frozen figure behind him as Igneel approached the closet. Holding his breath, Natsu counted the seconds until the closet door opened.

"Shit!" Igneel's frantic voice sounded through the shut closet door. "I'm coming Grandeeney! Don't leave without me! Shit shit shit!" And then Igneel's voice was disappearing out of the room.

A huge sigh of relief escaped Natsu as his body released all of its tension, and he slumped back against Lucy, who was still stiff as a statue. Remembering their earlier endeavors, he paused, wide eyes glancing down at where her hands still gripped his jeans.

"Lucy," he whispered, unable to raise his voice, "What are you doing?"

As if his words lifted a spell, Lucy's hand snapped back, and she backed away from him as much as their limited space would allow. "I – I don't know!"

Natsu did his best to keep in his sigh. He wanted to push her, wanted to ask her what all this meant, but more than that he really just wanted to push her back against the wall and kiss her until they were both dizzy. Natsu didn't do any of those things, though; instead, he buttoned his jeans as nonchalantly as he could, and turned back to Lucy with a bright smile.

"I think we're good now. Let's both go find somewhere else to hide, yeah?" he asked, opening the door and carefully stepping over the boxes. He turned around to give Lucy his hand, but she just stumbled out on her own.

"Yeah, great idea," she mumbled, keeping her eyes on the ground. She didn't wait for Natsu to say anything else before racing out of the room.

Raking a hand through his untamable pink locks, Natsu let out a frustrated sigh before leaving the room himself. _Great_ , he thought, punching the door on his way out, _just perfect._ This was how it always was with him and Lucy. One step forward, twenty steps back.


	4. Chapter 4

Lucy successfully avoided Natsu for the rest of the day. Their game of man hunt finished quickly, since Zeref caught them both as soon as they left Igneel's room. After that, Mavis suggested they make cookies, which Lucy happily agreed to. The boys, on the other hand, opted to play video games instead.

By the third time Natsu beat Zeref at Mario Kart, he knew something was up, and it was starting to annoy him. Games weren't fun unless they were challenging, or at least that's how Natsu felt. So he paused the game, and glared when Zeref looked up at him with that annoying baby face.

"Alright, what the hell, Zeref? I know I'm better than you, but you're not usually this bad," Natsu teased, playfully launching one of their fancy throw pillows at his brother's face.

Zeref only rolled his eyes and slapped the pillow away before it actually made contact with him. "You're annoying, you know that?" he asked, a frown pulling at his boyish features.

Natsu grinned. "Yup! So you gonna tell me what's wrong or should I guess? Just know that my first theory involves Mavis and the fact that you share the same room with her most nights and I hear nothin' through the wall. If you're having trouble gettin' it up, there's a pill for that ya know –"

"It's nothing like that, perv!" Zeref said with great distaste, throwing the pillow back at Natsu. It hit him square in the face, but he only laughed it off, looking back at Zeref with amused eyes. Sighing, the older Dragneel brother continued on. "Actually, this has nothing to do with me. Natsu, I was wondering about you and –"

Both boys snapped their attention towards the kitchen when a beeping sound interrupted their conversation. Just as quickly as they looked away, they looked back at each other, grinning and completely forgetting their current conversation.

"Cookies!" they cried, struggling to get into the kitchen before the other.

* * *

"Hey!" Lucy said sternly, using the black spatula she was holding to slap Natsu's hand away from the tray of cookies. She frowned at his sheepish smile like a disapproving mother. "You didn't help make them so you don't get to help eat them."

Pouting, Natsu attempted to give her puppy dog eyes. When she rolled her eyes and turned away, he figured that maybe only Lucy was good at giving them.

Next to him, Zeref leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter, giving Mavis a coy smile. "My love, could I please have a cookie? You know I love them especially when you make them."

Mavis returned his request with an unamused smile, but her cheeks were pink, and it was clear that she was at least a little flattered. "Zeref, I know what you're doing, and I wouldn't usually give in, but since I love you I'll let you have a cookie."

"Ah, thank you!" Zeref exclaimed happily, quickly leaning forward to peck Mavis' lips before swiping two cookies off their cooling tray.

Natsu glared at the entire scene, jealous of his brother for more than one reason. "No fair! If I can't have any you shouldn't either!"

"Not my fault," Zeref shrugged, chewing slowly on the piece of cookie in his mouth. "Girlfriend privileges."

"Ugh! This isn't fair! I still can't believe you even have a girlfriend!"

Seriously! Zeref had no friends, and stayed up in his room playing with ancient spell books and old potion recipes that Grandeeny gave him. Nothing about him should appeal to opposite sex. Natsu, on the other hand, was popular, friendly, a straight A student (well, mostly. Curse you, AP English Lit.), and was the star of both sports teams he was on. Obviously, he should be the one with a girlfriend. But the universe hated him, apparently.

"It's not my fault you don't know how to talk to girls," Zeref said, smirking with amusement in his eyes.

"What?!" Natsu all but yelled, his eyes growing wide. "I know how to talk to girls!" Didn't he? There were always groups of girls crowding around him and the rest of his team mates after every winning game, and he always talked to them until Lucy showed up to drag him away. They always seemed to enjoy his company…

Zeref's snort brought Natsu out of his thoughts. "Yeah right. If that's true then how come you've never asked anyone out?"

"Because I've never liked anyone enough to ask 'em out!" Natsu snapped automatically, not actually thinking about what he said until Zeref's eyes grew wide and flickered towards Lucy. Natsu noticed that Mavis, too, looked towards his best friend, and that's when he realized his mistake.

Cringing inwardly, Natsu slowly turned to look at Lucy himself. He instantly relaxed when he noticed that she seemed perfectly unbothered by his statement. _Of course she wouldn't care,_ Natsu thought bitterly, _it's not like she likes you back._

"What about you, Lucy? How come a gorgeous girl like you is still single?" Mavis asked, leaning forward on the counter and cupping her face in her hands. Her expression was dreamlike, and Natsu couldn't help but feel like she looked kinda like a fairy.

"I don't know," Lucy said, awkwardly playing with a few strands of her blonde hair. "I guess I don't like anyone either…"

The statement both hurt and comforted Natsu. On one hand, he wished she would be interested in him, but on the other hand he was happy she wasn't interested in any of the idiots that constantly asked her out. Like Loke, and that creepy drop out Bora…

"I actually have a date tomorrow, though…" Lucy confessed, and Natsu felt like his heart fell out of his asshole.

"What?! How come you didn't tell me?" he said loudly, gripping the edge of the kitchen counter as he leaned towards her. Lucy, on a date, with someone that wasn't him? Yeah, not something he wanted to hear casually brought up in conversation.

Leaning back in surprise, Lucy quickly responded with, "I didn't want to think about it! It's with someone my dad is trying to set me up with, so I have to go, but I don't want to. Ugh, I hate it.

"At least he doesn't seem so bad, though," Lucy offered after a moment of sympathetic silence. She shrugged her shoulder a little bit, looking up at everyone with a scrunched up nose. "I mean, he's athletic, and a national ranked fighter, and apparently he likes video games so…"

"So, he's Natsu?" Zeref said, looking at Lucy with an eyebrow raised in amusement. Natsu hadn't thought of it, since he was still too caught up in the fact that Lucy would have her first ever date with someone who wasn't him, but Zeref had a point. All of those things could be said about Natsu, as well.

"Eh?!" Lucy screeched, waving her hands in front of her face. "What?! No! He's nothing like Natsu! He's smart, and funny, and he knows how to act like a gentleman!"

"What?! I'm all of those things, too!" Natsu defended himself, growing even more upset. Is that why Lucy wasn't interested in him? Because she thought he was stupid, lame, and rude? Didn't she know him better than that?

Lucy gave him a blank stare and crossed her arms. "Oh really? Because I've seen your AP English Lit scores, and let me tell you, I'm not impressed."

Damn that class! "Okay, but everything else though!"

"Oh please," Lucy interrupted him with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You wouldn't know how to act like a gentleman if your life depended on it."

"So you admit that you think I'm funny, then?" Natsu asked, a small smile forming on his face when Lucy blushed, knowing he'd caught her.

"Shut up!" she grumbled, pulling the tray of cool cookies away from him as he once again tried to steal a cookie.

* * *

That night was the first night in a long time that Lucy actually went home to sleep. Natsu sighed, laying down on his too cold bed. He missed the tickle of blonde hair against the back of his neck. Just as he closed his eyes, he felt the rub of smooth hair along his arm, and jerked upright. A soft "meow" eased Natsu's tense muscles, and he smiled, picking up his blue cat.

"Hey Happy! Finally decided to come home from Grandeeney's, huh? How's Carla doin'?"

Happy didn't make any noise, but simply flicked his tail and nuzzled closer to Natsu's chest. Laughing, Natsu nodded his head sympathetically.

"You didn't get the girl either, huh? That's okay. We'll win their hearts eventually."

After that, Natsu sighed, and lied back down. Happy wasn't nearly as fun to sleep next to as Lucy, but at least he wasn't completely alone.

* * *

Lucy's dad didn't let her visit Natsu for the next three days. That was torcher for him, mostly because he kept picturing her all over that guy her dad had forced to go out with. Natsu didn't even know what the guy looked like, which made it worse. Was he better looking than Natsu? He himself didn't think his appearance was anything special, but he also didn't think he was bad looking.

Still, he knew he was nothing like what Lucy wanted. He wasn't especially tall, or dark haired. He didn't prance around like a knight in shining armor. If anything he was just a clumsy dragon trying to win the princess's heart. And dragons were never a match for the knights…

But Natsu wouldn't think about that now. Finally, after three days of being forced to hang out with Gray and Gajeel, and listening them talk about their dumb relationships, Natsu was finally going to hang out with his best friend again. He was looking forward to comforting her about her awful date. Maybe…maybe he'd actually work up the courage to ask her out himself.

"Lucy! What a refreshing sight! Have you come to save me from my demon sons?"

As soon as Natsu heard Igneel's booming voice from the bottom of the steps, he dashed out of his room and down the staircase. He was so excited about seeing Lucy that he accidentally skipped a step and let out a pathetic yelp before tumbling down the rest of the stairs. Groaning, Natsu stayed lying down at the bottom of the stairwell, not having enough energy to pull himself up from his awkward position.

There was a pause in which time seemed to stand still. Natsu couldn't see the others from his face down position, but he could only imagine the looks Igneel and Lucy were sharing at his expense.

"Are you sure Jude won't let me adopt you?" Natsu heard his father ask, and then Lucy's giggle filled the air and gave him enough energy to perk up.

"Hey Lucy!" Natsu said, jumping back into a standing position. His best friend just smiled and silently waved at him. Apparently she wasn't as excited to see him as he was to see her. "What cha wanna do today?"

Lucy just shrugged and walked further into the house. "I don't really care. Wanna just play video games?"

Natsu grinned. "Hell yeah!" He grabbed Lucy's wrist and quickly dragged her into the large family room where all the games and different systems were set up. "What should we play?"

Lucy threw herself down onto one of the beanbag chairs and picked up a PlayStation controller, idling playing with the buttons. "Dunno," she mumbled with a shrug. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else. It was almost like she didn't even want to be with him at the moment.

Natsu deflated. He held in his sigh, but his shoulders slumped and disappointment welled within him. Lucy never acted like this before. Did it have something to do with her date? "Ya know," he started, trying to keep his tone light, "We don't have to do anything if you don't wanna."

"Huh?" Lucy's head snapped up and she looked at Natsu with a confused expression. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just feeling out of it today."

"Yeah, I can tell," Natsu agreed, leaning against the doorway. He crossed his arms, waiting to see what Lucy wanted to do. He was seconds away from offering to walk her home when she let out a long sigh.

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "How about we just play on our DS's instead?"

"Sure," Natsu shrugged, taking their Gameboys off the shelf next to the TV. He tossed Lucy's to her before silently taking a seat on the beanbag next to hers. He didn't make any more comments on how distant she was being, even though they played their game in very loud silence.

* * *

Eventually Lucy warmed up, and Natsu forgot that she'd been so cold when she first arrived. During dinner, she'd ganged up with him and Zeref when they started to tease Igneel about Grandeeney, and Natsu couldn't help but feel once again that Lucy just belonged with them. She fit right in with the family, and as far as Natsu knew, she was really happy. He couldn't imagine that she would feel like she was missing anything when she was with him.

Her date wasn't brought up until after dinner. The lot of them filed into the living room after dessert – Natsu and Zeref had managed to make chocolate cake without burning the house down, much to Igneel's surprise – and sat around talking while letting their food-babies settle.

It was Mavis who brought up the date, and instantly Natsu's mood darkened. Since Lucy hadn't said anything that morning, he figured she was still trying to get over how badly it had gone. And secretly, he was happy. He didn't want Lucy to be happy with anyone but him, even if they never actually ended up together. He tried to ignore how selfish that was.

"Oh, the date?" Lucy asked, squirming a little now that the attention was all hers. "Well…it actually went really well."

Natsu bit down on his tongue to stop the surprised reaction from leaving his mouth. It went well?! What did that even mean? The small smile and light blush on her face was making Natsu sick. How come she never looked like that when _he_ was brought up?

"Really? That's great! What did you guys do?" Mavis went on to ask, excitement clear in her voice. Her legs dangled just above the floor, and they swung with eagerness as she waited for Lucy to respond.

"Well, our first date was pretty typical. We just went to a fancy restaurant and had dinner together."

Natsu frowned, not making eye contact with anyone as he listened to Lucy. Of course that rich bastard would take Lucy to a fancy place, he was probably trying to impress her. He probably had no idea how uncomfortable fancy places made Lucy, or that her favorite place to eat was the local restaurant Fairy Tail. He was only after Lucy for her status, and that made Natsu sick.

"But then after that he's just been coming over to hang out at my place and it's been so fun. He's honestly probably one of the best guys I know – he's so funny, and he knows Shakespeare by heart. How awesome is that?!" Lucy gushed, leaning forward so that she was sitting on the edge of the sofa.

Wait what? The reason Natsu hadn't seen Lucy in days was because she was hanging out with the rich jerk that her dad was trying to get her to marry? A feeling of deep betrayal and anger started to simmer in the center of Natsu's chest. Was this new guy so important to her that Lucy didn't even think to at least send Natsu a text letting him know how things were going? He'd just been hanging around waiting for her, meanwhile she was perfectly fine, enjoying the company of another guy.

"Seems like a keeper," Igneel said lightly, though Natsu could tell his father was holding something back. He was thankful that he dad was on his side. He needed at least someone there.

"When are you going to see him again?" Mavis asked with stars in her eyes. Natsu imagined that she was probably dreaming about Lucy and that guy together, and it made him even more pissed.

"I'm not sure, really. We haven't talked about another date yet. Oh – well he asked me to be his date to a party his father is throwing, but that's not 'til the end of April though, the twenty fifth I think."

"Wait, what?" Natsu asked, finally breaking his loaded silence. "That's the night of the senior dance."

Every year his high school had a dance specifically for the graduating seniors. It was a month before their graduation, and was supposed to be their final party before exams would hit them hard. Every senior was permitted to go, but some decided to go with dates, especially if they were couples, like most of Natsu's friends. In the beginning of the year, Natsu and Lucy had promised to go together, and very now and then they would bring it up, excitedly making plans. Had she forgotten about it?

The guilty smile Lucy sent him showed that she clearly hadn't. "I know. But my dad really wants me to go to this party. He's pushing me to make a good impression on this guy, since he's trying to close a business deal with him. And you know how my dad is. There's no going against him."

"Jeez Lucy, I can't believe you'd bail on your friends like that just because you're too scared to stand up to your dad. That's pretty pathetic, don't you think?" Natsu said, hot anger quickly travelling through his body like it was in his bloodstream.

Instantly, the room went silent. Discomfort was so heavy in the air that Natsu could almost taste it.

"Natsu," Igneel said in a sharp tone, the first to break the silence. That's when Natsu knew he'd messed up – Igneel hardly ever sounded truly angry. It had been years since his father had used that tone with him.

Natsu turned his attention back to Lucy to see that she was completely frozen. Her face was blank, and she was staring at Natsu with wide eyes. When he noticed that her face was flushed, he started to feel a little bad about what he'd said. He hadn't meant to be harsh, but how could she think he'd just be okay with her going back on her promise?

"I'm going to get some water, would anyone else like something to drink?" Zeref asked, standing up. Mavis and Igneel both asked for water as well, and Zeref turned his attention to his brother. "Natsu, would you come with me to help carry the drinks back?"

"Yeah, sure," he agreed stiffly, thankful for the distraction. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to look into Lucy's hurt eyes.

Once they entered the kitchen, Zeref silently took out three cups and filled them with water. Before he picked any of them up, though, he forcefully slapped Natsu straight on the forehead.

"Ow! What the hell, Zer?!" Natsu cried, rubbing at his sore forehead.

Zeref glared at him with such intensity that he actually looked his age for once. "Listen, Natsu. I know it sucks to see Lucy being happy with someone else. But I'm going to give you some advice, something I only figured out after Mavis entered my life."

There was a pause in which Zeref sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before continuing. "First and foremost, before anything else, Lucy is your best friend. When she tells you things like this, things that hurt you, you have to remember that she's your best friend before she's the girl you have a crush on. You have to be there for her, Natsu, no matter how it hurts, no matter what. Got it?"

Natsu didn't say anything. He thought for a moment, taking in all that Zeref had said. He knew hearing about some other guy would be hell for him, but losing Lucy would be even worse. "Yeah," Natsu said finally, sighing in defeat, "I got it."

"Good," Zeref said, his tone final. He shoved a glass of water into Natsu's hand and pushed him back into the living room.

When Natsu reclaimed his seat next to Lucy, he noticed that she was sitting as far away from him as she possibly could. Natsu held in a sigh. He'd really done it this time.

* * *

The walk back to Lucy's house was spent in uncomfortable silence. Obviously, Lucy hadn't gotten over Natsu's earlier critique, and Natsu hadn't figured out a way to apologize. He knew he'd have to do it soon, though, since the awkwardness was starting to become unbearable. He'd be damned if he lost Lucy just because of his own stupidity.

Natsu finally spoke up once they reached the front door to Lucy's mansion. "Hey, Luce, I'm really sorry about what I said earlier. I guess I was just really upset that you won't be at the dance, because it won't be any fun without you."

Lucy was already shaking her head before Natsu could even finish his statement. "No, don't worry about it. You're right. What kind of seventeen year old girl doesn't know how to talk back to her dad? I'm pathetic."

"You're not!" Natsu was quick to say. He sighed before continuing. "It's different for you. Your dad is scary and really mean."

"I guess," Lucy mumbled, not meeting his eyes. When she saw that he was about to say goodbye, she stopped him by saying, "Wait, I have something for you."

Natsu watched through curious eyes as she quickly opened her front door and disappeared behind it. She reemerged with his red hoodie in her hands.

"Here," Lucy said, shoving the material towards him. "I don't need it anymore. Dan gave me his jacket to wear so."

Natsu stared at the hoodie for a moment. He assumed Dan was the guy she'd gone out with, and tried not to dwell on the fact that she'd be walking around in his jacket instead of Natsu's hoodie. "Cool," Natsu said, finally grabbing the red material from her. "See ya, Luce."

"See you," he heard her say, but he was already walking away.


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of winter break passed like a blur to Natsu. Lucy spent significantly less time with him now that she had Dan to keep her company. The last time she'd visited, the two had spent the entire time in Natsu's room watching old Christmas movies.

"Man, I can't wait for Christmas," Natsu had said, eyes glued to his screen, watching the characters open their gifts. Christmas happened to be Natsu's favorite holiday, and – surprisingly enough – it wasn't because of the food or gifts. Natsu's favorite part about Christmas was getting to spend the entire day making Lucy happy.

He knew that before they were friends she'd been pretty lonely. With no siblings and a barely there father, her holidays prior to meeting him were very sad, or at least that's what he could tell from the memories she'd told him about. So since they'd first met, Natsu had invited Lucy over for Christmas dinner, and made sure to have a gift wrapped for her under the tree. Every year since then she'd joined his family and eventually even her father tagged along, too. Natsu loved it, because when both their broken families were together, it was like they were finally whole. Plus, Lucy's smile was always especially bright that day, and a happy Lucy was Natsu's favorite thing in the world.

Natsu had smiled, and turned his head towards Lucy to ask, "What time are you getting here this year? Do you have to wait for your dad to get off of work again?"

He remembered how Lucy had paled at his question and immediately broke eye contact. With her fingers nervously playing with his blanket, Lucy had answered, "Actually…I won't be coming here for dinner. Dan's father invited me and my dad to eat dinner with them…" And the look she had given Natsu when she finally brought her eyes back up to his had quite literally broken his heart.

She had looked a little nervous, as if she were bracing herself for his angry response. It was true that the words had cut Natsu deeper than he though anything would be able to. He'd sure as hell never thought it would be Lucy to make him feel something like that. He'd wanted to get angry, wanted to yell at her that she was abandoning him and his family for some guy she barely knew. But he'd kept his face blank, and mentally chanted the words that Zeref had told him: _best friend first, best friend first best friend first…_

"Oh, well that sucks," Natsu had said lightly with a shrug, "I bet their food won't be nearly as good as ours."

The relieved grin Lucy had given Natsu in that moment made his heart hurt even more. Had she really expected him to lash out at her again? Probably.

"Yeah," Lucy had said, the smile still on her face as she looked away with a content blush. "I bet it won't be."

And that had been that. Natsu had continued to watch the movie with a brick in the place of his heart, and Lucy half watched the movie, half typed away at her phone.

Christmas finally rolled around, and Natsu was happy to see that his father had invited Grandeeney and Wendy over. The two entered with trays of food and bags of gifts, but Natsu didn't care much about that. He was just glad more people would be filling his unusually empty house.

"Hey Natsu! When is Lucy getting here? I brought her a gift too," Wendy said, bouncing towards Natsu with two wrapped gifts in her hand. One was larger and rectangular shaped, but the other was a small box, which made Natsu assume is was some type of jewelry.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Natsu said, "Actually, Lucy's not coming this year. She's spending the day with her boyfriend and his family."

Wendy's eyes widened in response. "Boyfriend? Oh. I always thought you and Lucy were…" She trailed off, confused eyes searching Natsu's sad ones.

He only shook his head in response. "Nah, me and Lucy are just best friends."

Wendy must have sensed that this was a tough topic for Natsu, because after a moment of silently starring at him, she grinned and plopped herself down next to him on the living room floor. "This gift is for you!" Wendy said, shoving the larger object towards him.

"Oh, thanks," Natsu mumbled, eyes roaming the heavy gift in his hand. He messily ripped the wrapping paper off of it, and found that it was…a very old looking book. "Eh? Wendy, what is this?"

"It's an old spell book! I know you're not really into that kinda stuff like Zeref is," Wendy quickly rambled, nervously watching Natsu flip through the pages with a puzzled look on his face, "But this is old magic called Dragon Slaying Magic. The spells are just myths, but there's real martial arts fighting techniques in it that I thought you would like! I thought maybe we could learn it together."

Natsu let his eyes fall on the ink sketches of half dragon half human figures that were depicted in fighting stances throughout the book; some throwing punches, other a kick. He decided that it looked cool. "This is super awesome Wendy! Thanks! We can totally learn this together, I'm all fired up now!"

Wendy laughed at his enthusiasm, and Natsu found himself laughing as well. They spent the rest of the day looking through the book together, and surprisingly, Lucy actually slipped his mind.

* * *

New Year's hadn't been much better than Christmas. Natsu didn't usually spend New Year's with Lucy; that was a holiday reserved for her father. He would take her to one of his business parties, and show her off to all of his rivals. She hated it, and usually spent the entire time texting Natsu.

This year, though, Natsu hadn't received a single text from Lucy. Instead of the yearly NYE party that the Heartfilia's usually went to, they'd gone to Dan's private NYE party instead. Because why not add another stab wound to Natsu's broken heart, right?

The only texts Natsu _had_ received came to him after midnight. His phone was blowing up from the group chat he was in, all of his friends sending back and forth "HAPPY NEW YEARS!" messages. One message in particular had hit him like a kick to the nuts.

 **Cana:**

LUCY GOT HER FIRST KISS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

And then right after that:

 **Lucy:**

CANA! I told you not to tell anyone!

Natsu stared down at his phone numbly before throwing it against the wall of his room. He then climbed into his bed and grabbed the book Wendy had given him, and read the words through unfocused eyes.

"Hey, you okay Natsu?" a soft voice asked, following a light knock on his door. When Natsu looked up he saw Mavis poking her head into his door. "I heard something slam against my wall. I wasn't sure if you'd fallen or something."

"Nah, I'm good," Natsu replied shortly. His eyes immediately fell back down onto his book. After a pause he heard Mavis mumble an, "Okay then," and leave his room again.

* * *

Natsu didn't touch his phone again until the last night of break. He grabbed his now dead iPhone and plugged it into his charger, frowning when it turned back on only to have a shit ton of messages blow up his screen. Surprisingly – or maybe not so surprisingly anymore – none of them were from Lucy.

Most of the messages were from the group chat, finishing up their New Year's conversation that Natsu quickly skipped over, and then just his friends complaining about starting school again. He only had one individual message, and that one was from Gray.

 **Ice Prick (Gray):**

Hey, you okay flames for brains?

Natsu frowned at his phone. _Why would Gray ask me something dumb like that_ he thought as he checked the time and date of the message. Natsu inhaled sharply when he noticed it was sent immediately after Cana had sent the message about Lucy's first kiss. Was Gray…checking on him? Did he know Natsu had feelings for Lucy?

Honestly, Natsu had had the feeling that Gray had a thing for Lucy. But that was back in the early days, when Natsu didn't have a thing for Lucy, so he didn't really care much. Thankfully, when Natsu started to develop feelings for his best friend, Juvia came into the mix, and stole all of Gray's attention. Natsu wasn't sure how he'd be holding up if it had been Gray to steal Lucy from him.

Sighing, he placed his phone on his nightstand without answering any of the messages. Throwing himself onto his bed face down, Natsu forced himself to stay still until he fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Natsu woke up an hour before his six a.m. alarm. Not surprising, since he'd fallen asleep at eight o'clock. He forced himself up to shower, and then wasted the next hour playing old games on his DS until he needed to leave.

He'd checked his phone before he left, just to see if he'd gotten any messages from Lucy. He had not. The two used to walk to school together since Natsu passed Lucy's mansion on his commute, but he guessed she didn't want his company this morning. And that was fine by him. The less he saw her the better at this point.

Today was the first day in a long time that Natsu made it to school early enough to see people hanging out in the hallway before homeroom. As he made his way towards his locker he saw a group of girls crowded around Lucy's locker. He heard excited voices when he was still a few feet away.

"Oh my gosh, and he let you wear his jacket!"

"God, Lucy, you're so lucky! Dan is like, super popular!"

"Yeah, like, I heard girls at his school actually fist fight over him!"

" _And_ he's the star of the football team! Ugh, so lucky!"

Natsu tried to keep his eyes forward as he passed her, but when he heard Lucy call out a, "Hey Natsu!" he couldn't keep his head from jerking her way in response.

Her hair was up in its usual side ponytail, and her smile was as bright as ever. The only thing different about her was the oversized varsity jacket her body was currently engulfed in. The colors were foreign to him, from a school he clearly didn't care enough about to remember. And the letters on the sleeves registered a blank in his head.

"Hey Lucy!" Natsu responded with a grin, giving her a two finger salute as he kept walking. As soon as his face was out of her view he dropped his grin and let out a huge sigh. He didn't think seeing her again would hurt this much. He'd been in his fair share of fights, had gotten nearly every bone in his body broken at some point, but none of that even came close to the pain in his chest over seeing Lucy proudly sporting another guy's clothes.

* * *

For the next two weeks Natsu actually found himself avoiding Lucy around school. Not like she complained about it or anything. He just couldn't bring himself to be around her anymore, it hurt way too much. Every time he saw her she was wearing that damned jacket like she was born in it, and all Natsu could do was think about how happy she seemed to be in it. She'd never been that happy to wear his worn old hoodie. But then again, why would she be?

Needless to say, Natsu spent the entire day with nervous butterflies raging an epic battle inside his stomach. He'd gotten another low score on his AP English poetry analysis, and had mustered up the courage to ask Lucy for help with their next one. She'd happily agreed, and told him they could meet at their library after school. Natsu knew there was no reason to be worried, it was just Lucy, his weirdo best friend. But the larger part of him knew it was much more than just that.

He was sat frozen in his desk when the last bell rang, staring down at his desk with eyes that were far away. _I can't do this, I can't be near Lucy, I'm going to end up confessing my feelings to her, or crying, or both, I just can't –_

"Stop moping around so much, Natsu, it's really getting annoy," someone said, and two dainty hands slammed onto his desk top.

Natsu looked up with furrowed brows to see Cana looking at him with a frown. "Huh?" he asked, completely blindsided by her comment.

Rolling her eyes, Cana crossed her arms, sassily leaning all her weight on one foot. "I know you're super bummed that Lucy found a new dude, but can you blame her? You were taking forever to ask her out!"

Natsu cringed at her words and leaned away from her, glaring back at her frown. "W-what are you even talking about?!" he said, his voice rising with embarrassment.

"Oh shut up. I know you've been crushing on her for years now, don't deny it. Look, if you're really that upset over it, just win her back! It won't be that hard, really, I'm sure she likes you much more than that other guy anyway."

"Oh really?" Natsu challenged, crossing his arms as he stood. "Yeah I'm really sure Lucy likes me, her dumb best friend, more than some popular jock who can read her Shakespeare or some other dumb crap."

"Well, you're a popular jock too, ya know. Plenty of girls would love to give you head in the boy's locker room. Trust me, I've talked to some of them. They're pretty cool – they've got awful taste, in my opinion – but they're pretty cool," Cana shrugged, tilting her head to the side and raising her eyebrows nonchalantly.

Natsu frowned. "Yeah well, it's not so easy to 'just win her back' when she's dating a guy who's had more girls in his bed than I even know the names of. Meanwhile, I haven't even kissed anyone yet!" Natsu admitted in a frustrated hiss.

Cana actually looked surprised at his confession. "Wait, really? You've never been kissed? Shit, I thought Lucy was the prude here."

"Thanks," Natsu grumbled, frowning and looking away angrily.

"Well, kissing really isn't that hard," Cana spoke slowly as if she were thinking it over. Natsu looked back at her to see her eyes were looking upwards and her forefinger was tapping against her chin.

"Maybe for you! I have no idea what I'm doing, though! Where do I put my tongue? How do I even get my tongue out there if our lips are pressed together? Gah, the whole thing is weird and embarrassing," Natsu grumbled, gritting his teeth. He looked down, feeling heat rise to the tips of his ears.

"Here, I'll show you."

And then Cana grabbed his face in both her hands and shoved their lips together. Natsu froze and tried to struggle against her, but then Cana tilted her head and opened her mouth against his and Natsu thought, _ohhh, so that's how you do it!_

In his moment of being distracted, Natsu allowed Cana to take control of their kiss. She kept her hands on his cheeks, holding his mouth to hers as she snaked her tongue out, running it along the seam of his lips. Automatically, Natsu opened his mouth and startled at the feeling of Cana's warm, wet tongue sliding against his. It felt really weird, but after a few moments he adjusted to the feeling, and hesitantly pressed his tongue back against hers.

Cana slid her hands up into Natsu's hair, but he kept his hands hanging limp by his sides. He was still considering pushing her away, but he had to admit he did need the practice if he was going to stand a chance against Dan I-Slept-With-The-Entire-Cheerleading-Team-At-Least-According-To-Mira. Natsu finally decided he'd had enough when Cana bit at his bottom lip. He brought his hands up to push her away just as the classroom door flung open.

"Hey, what are you still doing in here? Class let out almost ten minutes ago, even the halls are – oh! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt!"

Natsu jerked his face out of Cana's grasp to look at a blushing Lucy standing in the doorway. Her arm was now covering her eyes, and she was biting her bottom lip in embarrassment.

"You weren't!" Natsu spoke quickly, moving away from Cana. He cleared his throat and wiped his mouth before repeating, "You weren't interrupting anything."

"Yeah, totally nothing," Cana added, winking at Natsu. He returned the gesture with a blank stare. _I'm gonna kill her_ , he thought to himself. "Anyway, I better get goin'. Gotta work my shift at Fairy Tail. See ya guys," Cana said, waving casually as she walked out of the room.

"So," Lucy said hesitantly after an awkward pause. "To the library?"

"Yeah, let's go," Natsu agreed, gathering his books quickly. Once they left the room, the two silently walked towards Natsu's locker. The air between them was heavy with Natsu's embarrassment and the unrelenting feeling of judgement coming from Lucy.

After several moments, Lucy finally spoke again. "So, you and Cana, huh?" she asked, and it could have been Natsu, but her voice sounded slightly off. Her tone wasn't curious, it was more…hurt. He couldn't help but wonder why.

"Hell no," Natsu responded automatically, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lucy's face snapped towards him. "That was nothin'. She was just makin' fun of me for never havin' a first kiss. Next thing I know her tongue is in my mouth."

Lucy laughed then, the giggles sounding almost relieved. "Well, I guess that is a very Cana thing to do."

Natsu hummed a response, having reached his locker and finished packing his bag. The silence between them returned as they made their way towards the school doors, but this time it was much more bearable. Once they made it outside, they noticed Gray walking just a few feet away from them.

"Yo, stripper!" Natsu called, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he walked.

Gray turned around with a blank expression. When he saw Natsu, he frowned, but stopped walking. "What's up?" he asked, his voice crisp.

Natsu noticed that Lucy was busy typing away at her phone, so he answered for the both of them. "We're on our way to the library to study for English. Lucy's gonna teach me how to actually pass these damn poetry packet bullshits."

"That's nice of her," Gray said, raising one eyebrow. He was giving Natsu a look that he didn't quite understand, and Gray sighed, giving up when Natsu sent him a confused stare.

A moment of silence fell between the trio. Lucy was once again captivated by her phone while Natsu and Gray stood a couple feet from her, awkwardly waiting for her to finish up. But her phone kept buzzing and her smile kept growing with each message. Natsu had the feeling she wouldn't stop until someone forced her to. And he would be that someone.

"Hey Lucy, we going to get to the library any time soon?" Natsu asked, checking an imaginary watch on his wrist.

Lucy startled before looking up. Her cheeks were slightly blushed, and her eyes had a guilty gleam to them. "Uh…Natsu…"

For some reason, his gut twisted at her tone. He had a vague idea of what was to come, and from Gray's awkward demeanor, Natsu guessed he did, too.

"Dan just texted me…I completely forgot that we already had plans today, and – well –"

"Don't worry about it," Natsu said shortly.

He watched Lucy hesitate, glancing back towards a red mustang that was sitting in neutral at the corner. She looked back at him with worried eyes. "I'm really sorry. I would cancel, but he's already here…"

"It's fine," Natsu said in a tone that implied it was not, in fact, fine. "Just go. He's waiting for you."

"Sorry," Lucy mumbled, gripping the thick strap of her book bag tightly in her free hand. "See you, Gray," she said in a louder voice, waving at him before turning around and sprinting towards the waiting car.

"Hey, flames for brains," Gray started, watching Natsu rigidly walk away.

"Save it," Natsu said, cutting off whatever sympathy Gray would send his way. Natsu didn't need sympathy. He needed a new life.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN** : No, it's not just your imagination. I actually updated. I know, I know. Shocking. I'll give you a moment to still your heartbeat and pick yourself up off the floor.

Anyway, I reread this story (barely) and I am horrified. Who let me write such trash? Natsu and Cana kissing?! I remember what I was going for with that, but I did not execute it correctly. I sincerely apologize. I promise you, from now on, this fic will be much better. And the angst will soon be gone as well.

I want to thank all of you for sticking by me and this story and continuing to support me and read it. I apologize for any typos, or bad writing, I was trying to get this up asap. Please enjoy!

* * *

Natsu huffed, his chest rising and falling quickly, desperately sending much needed air to his lungs. In his mind, he was picturing Lucy walking away. He swung another punch. The image changed into Lucy wearing Dan's jacket, a wide smile on her face. A harder punch. The memory of Lucy handing him back his hoodie flashed in his mind and every muscle in his body tensed up. A final punch, followed by the sound of flesh hitting the ground.

"Jesus, flames for brains," Gray grunted, sitting up on the floor of the boxing ring. He wiped blood from his mouth with his sweaty forearm. "I know you're pissed about Lucy wearing some other dude's jacket, but don't take it out on me."

Natsu glared at nothing in particular, wiping his own forearm across his sweaty forehead. "My bad," he muttered, looking away from Gray to take a swig from his water bottle.

This was how his afternoons were spent now. After school he would come to the gym with Gray or one of their other friends. They would spar, Natsu would fight too hard, apologize, and go home to a house that was always too empty without Lucy.

"Listen, Natsu," Gray started, and Natsu looked back at him with raised brows. Gray calling him by his actual name instead of a mean nickname was never a good thing.

Standing closer to Natsu now, Gray paused to sigh, a tight expression on his face that Natsu wasn't too keen on. "We all miss Lucy. I get that you miss her more for different reasons, but it's been weeks man. You gotta at least try to move on."

There was a short pause in which the two shared a loaded silence, their eye contact full of unspoken words. Briskly, Natsu walked around Gray, jerking his shoulder to the side to barely miss bumping into him. "I don't know what you're talking about," Natsu said coldly as he passed, and he heard Gray sigh in response.

* * *

Natsu knew something was off when he put the key into his front door only to realize it wasn't locked. Igneel never left the door unlocked. A bad feeling started to coil itself into the pit of Natsu's stomach.

"Dad?" he called, walking into the house cautiously. He heard a faint giggle and then his father's booming laughter. Only one person could make his dad laugh like that. Natsu went completely cold as he slowly walked into his kitchen. Dreading the scene he was about to see, he softly repeated, "Dad?"

"Natsu!" Igneel greeted happily, standing on the opposite side of the counter. Across from him, Lucy sat with her back to Natsu, her head down in what Natsu could only place as nerves. "Look who finally came to visit!"

At that, Lucy slowly turned to the side and gave Natsu a weak smile. It told him everything he needed to know. That she knew she'd abandoned him, that she knew he was hurting, and that she wasn't doing anything to help him. It told him that she just didn't care about him anymore.

"Hey, Natsu," she said softly, her eyebrows pulling together nervously.

Natsu's expression didn't change. "Hey," he said flatly, eyeing her without emotion. Then to his father he said, "I'm gonna go shower. I just got back from sparring with Gray."

"Oh, I heard you've been practicing more lately. Is there a reason?" Lucy asked as if Natsu had been speaking to her.

"No," he said shortly, turning to leave the room. As he climbed the steps, he realized Lucy was following him. "Wanna shower with me?" he asked sarcastically. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucy blush.

"Don't be gross. Igneel told me to go with you. I came to visit you after all…"

"I'm probably going to be in the shower for a long time. My muscles hurt, I'll just be standing in the hot water for awhile," Natsu warned, reaching the top of the steps. Lucy was basically jogging to keep up with his pace.

"That's fine. I don't have plans today."

"You sure this time?" Natsu jabbed, his tone taking on a bitterness even he was shocked at. He didn't have to look back to know that Lucy was still following him. She could be even more stubborn than Natsu when she wanted to be.

"Natsu…" Lucy started, but trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say next. Natsu wanted to laugh at her.

"I'm going to be a long time," he reiterated, throwing his gym and book bags down before grabbing a clean towel. He was willing to hide out in his bathroom all night if that's what it took to avoid Lucy. He turned to walk out of his room but sighed when he realized she wasn't moving from his doorway.

"I'm going to wait for you, then," Lucy said, crossing her arms.

Natsu shrugged. "Suit yourself then. There's no reason to though."

"How come," Lucy challenged, a frown taking over her face.

Natsu wanted to scream. "Because there's nothing for us to do…?" he said slowly, hoping Lucy would just drop it and leave.

"Well, how are you doing in Ap English? I can help you if you need – "

"Nah, I've been doing well. Mavis has been skyping me to help me," Natsu clarified, voice bored. He paused, waiting for Lucy's next attempt.

"Oh, that's nice of her," she said, looking down in thought. Clearly she hadn't expected Natsu to have a reason to reject her help. English had always been their thing. But then again, everything had always been their thing, hadn't it?

"Mhm," Natsu hummed, beginning to shift back and forth between his heels and toes, trying to push Lucy along.

"Well, we could play games – " Lucy started hopefully, her eyes sparkling vulnerably as her lips started to curl into a smile. Natsu cut her off again.

"Nah, I actually have a ton of homework I need to get done," Natsu said, looking away from her in bored annoyance. He really just wanted her to leave. He'd noticed Dan's damn jacket hanging off his kitchen chair and right now he was fighting the urge to set his entire house on fire because of it.

"Oh! We could do homework together! I have my schoolbag with me," Lucy explained excitedly, rushing her words out as if she were afraid Natsu would interrupt again. She was giving him such a hopeful look that Natsu almost couldn't reject her.

"No thanks," Natsu said slowly, giving her a similar expression to the one she'd given him in the kitchen earlier. "We don't have many of the same classes, so it would be pointless to do homework together if they're different assignments."

"Oh." Lucy looked down for a moment, and Natsu swore she was going to come up with something else. But then Lucy looked back at him with such a sad expression he couldn't help but compare it to a puppy being kicked. "So I guess…I'll just go then?"

"Yeah," Natsu nodded, throwing the towel in his hand over his shoulder. "That would probably be best. See ya at school tomorrow."

"See you," Lucy whispered as Natsu walked around her and into the bathroom. He would have walked her out, but he didn't think he could handle having to watch her walk away yet again.

* * *

When Natsu walked back into his room after his shower, Igneel was sitting on his bed. It startled him so much that he gave a pathetic "Gah!" and gripped the towel around his waist even tighter.

"Dad!" Natsu shouted. "What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"Oh shut up," Igneel rolled his eyes. He looked back to Natsu with pursed lips. "When you were a kid you would run around this house naked, me chasing after you with your clothes. Now you wanna be shy?"

"It's different," Natsu muttered, keeping the grip on his towel tight as his ears heated up. "What do you want!?" he snapped, still not walking any father into the room than the doorway.

"We need to talk about Lucy," Igneel said, looking into Natsu's eyes steadily. Natsu knew his father was gauging his reaction.

"What about her?" Natsu asked carefully, narrowing his eyes at his father. For the past couple of weeks Natsu had been moping around the house. He tried his best to keep busy but there were still moments when Natsu felt so _sad_. He knew Igneel was noticing it, but he was hoping his dad would just politely ignore it.

"You know what I'm talking about, Natsu. I invited her over to hang out with you, and you make her leave the second you walk in the door!" Igneel said, hand motioning into the air angrily as his voice rose. But Natsu was angry too.

"You invited her over?!" Natsu yelled, feeling betrayed. "You know I'm avoiding her!"

"I do know that, that's why I asked her to come over. You know I don't pry into yours or Zeref's lives, especially your love lives. Jesus Christ, maybe if I did Zeref wouldn't still be the reincarnate Virgin Mary right now, but I digress," Igneel said, making Natsu give him a face of confused disgust. "My point is, Lucy is different. She's like a daughter to me. She's your best friend, Natsu."

"She _was_ my best friend," Natsu grumbled, looking away.

"No, she _is_ your best friend," Igneel said in a tone that made Natsu look back at him.

"How can you say that? After what she's putting met through?" Natsu said, gritting his teeth to hold in the tears that burned the backs of his eyes. He felt his muscles getting tense again and wished he was back in his hot shower.

Igneel didn't budge. There was no pity in his eyes. "What is it exactly that she's doing to you?"

"You _know_ what she's doing, dad," Natsu whispered, looking away. He hated thinking about it, hated talking about it. He hadn't been hurt like this in a long time.

"What? Do you mean getting a boyfriend? That's no reason to drop a friend, Natsu. Did you drop Gray when he started dating? Or Levy, or Gajeel, or Lisanna for that matter?"

"Lucy is different," Natsu said, looking back to his father, feeling like he was stating the obvious.

"How?" Igneel challenged. When Natsu stayed silent, Igneel sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Natsu…look. All I'm saying is to see things from her perspective. Imagine being best friends with someone, thinking that they're always going to be there for you, and then one day they're not. All because you're simply happy. Imagine how that must feel."

"'Think about her perspective' 'Imagine how she feels' I'm sick of people telling me that!" Natsu roared, his pent up hurt pouring out of him in uncalled for rage. He looked back at his father with fiery eyes. "What about how I feel? Don't I matter, too?!"

For the first time, Igneel actually looked sad. "Of course you matter, son. I'm just saying that it must hurt Lucy to feel like having a boyfriend makes her worthless to you. And also, I don't think you ever told her how you felt. So she really doesn't know how she's affecting you; to her she just lost a best friend over nothing."

"Over choosing a boyfriend over her best friend," Natsu corrected his father, anger still simmering in his chest.

Igneel paused. "But would a best friend make her choose?"

Natsu didn't know how to respond to that, and so the two of them sat in silence for a moment while Natsu thought it over. Finally Igneel sighed and spoke again.

"I'm just telling you to rethink the reasons you were such good friends with Lucy, and reconsider your right to hold this against her. Jeez, to think you two went from making out in my closet to this."

"W-what?!" Natsu yelped, his father's casual words taking him so off guard that he physically jumped, grabbing onto the doorframe to steady himself.

"Whoa there, you might wanna be careful, your towel might fall," Igneel teased, but Natsu was still too shocked to care.

"You knew about that!?" he asked, the memory of Lucy being pressed up against him causing his cheeks to turn red.

"I'm surprised the whole neighborhood didn't know about that. You two were breathing so heavy I thought there was a horse giving birth in there," Igneel said, rolling his eyes.

Natsu was sure his soul left his body and was actually very glad Lucy wasn't there to hear this. He was sure that she would have actually died on the spot.

"Anyway," Igneel sighed, finally getting up from Natsu's bed. He paused before leaving the room to place a hand on Natsu's shoulder, and look sadly into his eyes. "Just think about what I said, okay? Don't give up on her so easily."

Natsu sighed once his father closed the door behind himself. _Jeez_ , he thought, quickly searching for some sweats and a t shirt to change into. As he rummaged through the pile of dirty clothes on his floor, he noticed red material glaring at him from the back of his closet. Reaching out, he grabbed it and picked it up off the floor.

It was his hoodie, the reject, the one Lucy didn't want to be seen in anymore. Without meaning to, Natsu put the material to his nose and inhaled. With a painful jolt, he realized it still smelled like Lucy. Pathetically, Natsu put it on, letting the material rub against his bare skin, realizing this was the closest to Lucy he'd ever be.

After he stepped into some sweats, Natsu grabbed his backpack and sat at his desk. Igneel's words were haunting him and the scent of Lucy was making him crazy. _You're her best friend first_ , he reminded himself, and pulled his phone out with a sigh.

"Yeah?" Lucy answered hesitantly after the first ring.

"Hey Luce," Natsu greeted, staring at his English books. "Mavis has been too busy to help me out lately. I was wonderin' if you'd mind going over English with me?"

"No problem!" Lucy said, her tone more excited than Natsu had heard in a while. It made him smile. "What poem should we start with?"

Their conversation stayed strictly on poetry. Natsu asked a lot of questions and did a lot of complaining, but he made sure the topic never changed. He wasn't sure how he'd handle it. He was doing his best, after all, but he knew he was far from perfect.

Lucy cleared her throat, something she only did to buy time when she was nervous about bringing something up, and Natsu cringed. "So your dad said you've been missing me," she said, her tone too light to be natural.

"Yeah right," Natsu scoffed, playing with the strings of his hoodie, wishing they were locks of Lucy's hair instead. He'd love to give one of her golden waves a yank for this. "Only when I'm having trouble with English." _Which is all the time_ , Natsu thought to himself.

"So all the time?" Lucy asked sarcastically, and Natsu frowned, hating that she could still manage to read his mind.

"Shut up," he said bitterly, his frown turning into a smile once Lucy started laughing. He couldn't stop himself from wondering if she laughed this much with Dan. Painfully, he reminded himself that it didn't matter anyway.


End file.
